


Last Ditch Effort (See You Try)

by Lieselknievel



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-03
Updated: 2013-11-02
Packaged: 2017-12-31 07:52:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1029161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lieselknievel/pseuds/Lieselknievel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Originally written for the prompt: Jim's sister comes to visit him and starts to ship him and Maggie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a prompt for Tumblr and then expanded a little. The title is from the Josh Ritter song, and yeah. Enjoy!

“Hey Mac,” Maggie hears Jim say as they gather their things at the end of a rundown meeting. “Would it be okay if I took Friday off? Rachel’s coming into town.”

Rachel? Maggie thinks. Who the hell is Rachel? To her surprise, Mac nods enthusiastically, smiling widely at Jim.

“Only if you bring her by to say hello,” Mac instructs, squeezing his arm as she passes. Maggie lingers by Jim’s desk a few minutes later, until he glances up and raises an eyebrow in her direction.

“Can I help you?”

“Who’s Rachel?” She asks. She didn’t mean for it to come out so bluntly, but it did, and there’s no going back now. Jim has the beginnings of a smirk, and Maggie just stares back defiantly.

“My sister,” Jim answers, and Maggie feels like an idiot now. “She’s in town for the weekend. She’s met Mac a couple of times, and they really hit it off.”

“Oh,” Maggie forces a smile, even though her cheeks are burning. “That’s really nice, Jim. I can’t wait to meet her when you bring her by.” And Jim taps his pen on the desk a couple of times, and nods, and Maggie hurries away.

* * *

 

On Friday, she’s working on a story when she hears Mac’s squeal from across the newsroom. She glances up to see Mac hurrying over to a woman who looks so much like Jim that it’s almost _scary_ , throwing her arms around her and hugging her tightly.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” she hears Rachel say, as she takes Mac’s hand to look at the ring.

“Thanks,” Mac bumps her hip into Rachel’s. “Have you met Will? You need to meet Will.” The trio heads off towards Will’s office, and Maggie gets back to work.

She’s so engrossed in what she’s doing that she doesn’t notice they have come back out until she feels a tap on her shoulder and she spins around her in chair. Jim and his sister are standing there, and she stands up as Rachel extends a hand.

“You must be Maggie,” Rachel says. “It’s so good to meet you. I’m Jim’s sister Rachel.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Maggie replies, smiling.

“Mac and Will want to take us to lunch, we’d love it if you could join us,” Rachel adds, glancing at Jim who nods, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Uh, yeah, I could…yeah, sure,” Maggie stutters, and she quickly saves what she was working on just in time to see Mac and Will emerge from his office.

“Everyone ready to go?” Mac asks.

“I invited Maggie along, I hope that’s all right,” Rachel tells Mac, who lights up, nodding enthusiastically. Maggie’s too busy putting on her coat to notice Mac and Rachel exchange silent thumbs up, and Will’s hissed, “Leave it alone,” to his fiancée, which she promptly ignores.

* * *

 

The restaurant is way out of Maggie’s price range, and so she glances around with a wide-eyed wonder when they step inside. She notices that Rachel has a similar look of awe, but Mac and Will stride in like they belong here, which, she supposes, they do. When they get to their table, she goes to sit between Will and Rachel when Mac quickly sits down there instead, pointing to the empty seat between Jim and Will.

Will immediately orders a bottle of wine, leaving Maggie to worry about whether or not to drink it. If she drinks it, will they be angry that she’s drinking on the clock? If she doesn’t will they be offended? She’s worrying so much about it that she misses Jim pouring a little bit into her glass, and leaning over to say softly,

“Go ahead and have a drink. Just one.” And she gives him a grateful smile, picking up her glass and taking a sip.

Lunch is nice. Maggie doesn’t do much talking. The conversation drifts from Rachel’s life in Portland, to stories about Jim and Mac in the warzone, to Mac and Will’s upcoming nuptials, when suddenly she hears Jim say,

“Yeah, actually we broke up,” and Maggie suddenly sits up in attention.

“You and Hallie?” She cuts in, and the other occupants of the table turn to look at her in surprise. “I mean, I’m sorry to hear about that.” Out of the corner of her eye she can see Rachel hiding a smile in her wine glass, and Maggie wants to groan. Jim’s sister must think she’s an idiot, or worse, pitiful, pining away over Rachel’s brother.

Mac and Rachel excuse themselves when they finish eating to go to the bathroom, and Maggie’s never been all about the gaggle of women going to the bathroom together, so she waits a couple of minutes and then follows behind. She’s in the stall when she hears Rachel’s voice.

“They’d be adorable together, you’re right. It’s up to you, though, I’m all the way across the country. You’ve got to play matchmaker here,” Rachel says, and Maggie thinks about speaking up so that they know she’s in here, but she bites her lip instead.

“I’ve been trying,” Mac sighs. “Of course, I’ve had some wrenches thrown in my way. But now that Jim broke up with Hallie, I’ll have to step up my game.” She pauses and then adds, “Will’s going to _kill_ me.” She giggles slightly.

“I never liked Hallie,” Rachel confesses.

“She was okay,” Maggie hears the water turn on, and something Mac says is slightly muffled by the sound. “But he and Maggie…he loves her, I know he does. I’m still not sure exactly what happened between them before he left for New Hampshire, and then he came back with a girlfriend in tow, and Maggie was a little…you heard about Uganda, right?” Rachel must have nodded because Mac continues. “But now they’re both single! It’s time for him to gather his rosebuds!” And Maggie’s confused, but Rachel must not be, because she’s chiming in that she thinks it’s a great idea as the bathroom door opens and then closes.

Maggie stands, frozen, for a couple of minutes. They’re going to know she was in there, going to know she heard everything they said, but instead of worrying about it, she takes her time washing her hands, and then decides that she’s going to let Mac play matchmaker. When Maggie joins them, she catches Mac and Rachel exchange a look, but she apologizes for taking so long and lies,

“I saw someone I knew at the bar, so I never made it to the bathroom.” And Mac and Rachel seem relieved, and Maggie smiles to herself.

Okay, Yenta, Maggie thinks. Work your magic.


	2. Chapter 2

“Okay, I need a status report on Mission Rosebuds,” Rachel says when Mac answers her phone.

Mac grins, and replies, “Hello to you, too, Rachel.” “Hi Mac, how are you? How’s Will? Good? Good. Now, Mission Rosebuds. Where are we at?” Mac sighs and leans back into her chair.

“I don’t have much to report,” Mac admits. “Despite my some of my best scheming, we’ve seem to have hit a wall. I keep trying to put them to work together and something keeps happening. I think it’s Will. I’m being outmaneuvered by my own fiancé!”

“What’s Will got against love?” Rachel asks indignantly.

“He’s got nothing against love,” Mac explains. “But he _does_ have something against me playing matchmaker. He tells me I ruin lives. If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen.” She huffs. “I’ll have him know that I have a pretty good track record for matchmaking.”

“Well, keep it up,” Rachel says. “I don’t think all efforts have been in vain. Jim called to talk yesterday and I asked him how Maggie was, and he talked about her for a solid twenty minutes. We’re making progress. Distract Will! Use your considerable powers!”

“Ten four, buddy,” Mac replies as the man in question steps into her office. “I have to go. I’ll keep you updated.” She hangs up and looks up at Will expectedly. “Yes?”

“Who was that?” Will asks as he drops into the chair across from her.

“Rachel Harper,” Mac answers. “Wanting to know how Mission Rosebuds is going.” Will groans as he drops his head back.

“Jesus Fuck. It has a _name_ now?”

“Yes,” Mac’s voice is firm. “It’s happening. Stop trying to sabotage my efforts.”

“I haven’t been sabotaging your efforts,” he tries to argue, and she holds up a hand to stop him.

“Yes you have. I tried to put the two of them together on the Syria story, and you pulled Maggie off to work on something else. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to William Duncan McAvoy,” she waggles a finger at him and he can’t help but grin. “I will not be deterred.” He gets up and goes around to stand in front of her, leaning against her desk.

“You’re cute when you’re all worked up,” he tells her, leaning down to kiss her softly. “All right. I’ll let you work your life ruining magic. As long as it doesn’t bleed over into work, I’ll back off.”

“Thank you,” Mac nods her head, and stands up between his legs. “I resent the life-ruining crack though. For the record. And I _will_ be successful. They love each other, I just know it. They just need to get their heads out of their arses. It’ll work. Mission Rosebud will be a success. It will.”

* * *

Maggie is aware of Mac’s scheming. She is also aware of Will’s efforts to stop his fiancée, and she’s also aware that Jim is completely clueless. It’s kind of fun, actually, watching them all trip over each other and it’s been so long since things have been fun.

She doesn’t tell Lisa about it. Things between them are so much better, but they’re still strained and she doesn’t want to risk rocking the boat. Jim is a persona non grata around their apartment, and Maggie knows that if anything happens she’ll have to tell Lisa, but for now there’s not much to tell. Mac’s trying, and being thwarted at every turn, but the truth of the matter is that Jim isn’t making any moves. He’s single now. He’s single and she’s single, and he’s _still_ not making any moves.

He doesn’t actually need Mac and Rachel’s help. He could just ask her out on his own.

If he wanted to.

Which clearly he doesn’t.

Maggie’s trying not to let that bother her too much.

Finally Mac’s efforts pay off, and she and Jim are put together to work on a story about the upcoming elections and Will doesn’t pull her off to work on something else.

“Why don’t you guys use my office?” Mac suggests. “It’s quieter and more private than the conference room. No one will bother you.”

“Where will you work?” Will asks her, and she shrugs and gives him an innocent look.

“Your office,” she replies sweetly. Will rolls his eyes, but doesn’t argue, which is how Maggie finds herself sitting at the small table in Mac’s office, Jim’s chair inches away from hers. They’ve been working in here, side by side, for a few days, and he’s been shifting his chair closer every day. She’s not sure why he chose to sit _right_ next to her, instead at Mac’s desk or on the other side of the table, but she’s also not complaining.

“My sister asked about you,” Jim says when there’s a moment of silence, and Maggie looks up in surprise. “She said to tell you hello.”

“Oh,” Maggie smiles softly. “Tell her hello back.” Jim taps his pen against the table like he wants to say more, and finally Maggie just has to know.

“What?”

“What?”

“You look like you wanted to say something else,” she points out.

“No, I’m…no, it’s just something that Rachel said,” Jim shrugs. “She said I light up when you’re around.” Subtle, Maggie thinks, but it also made her heart skip a beat. She shifts uncomfortably, not sure what she’s supposed to say, before Jim speaks again.

“It’s not a secret that I have a little…that I’ve always…that I…” He shrugs, and hangs his head for a moment. “I like you Maggie. I always have. And if you had...I went to New Hampshire to try to get over you.”

“And you did,” she points out. “You came back with Hallie.” And she doesn’t tell him how much that hurt. Seeing him come back with a girlfriend in tow while her world was falling apart around her. She doesn’t admit how lonely and awful those few months were, when she was speaking with Lisa or Jim.

“I didn’t…” Jim shakes his head, and then gives her a rueful smile. “I might have been dating Hallie, but that didn’t make me like you any less.”

“Oh,” Maggie says stupidly. And because she told herself she would be brave from now on, she takes a deep breath and asks, “What about now? How do you feel now?”

“I like you, Maggie,” he admits. “I’m sorry for…can we start all over again? Forget about Don and Lisa and Hallie?” Maggie nods, giving him a soft smile.

“I’d like that,” she tells him, and he leans forward and kisses her.

* * *

“Mission Rosebud is a totally fucking success!” Mac squeals on the phone to Rachel a few minutes later, after having walked in on a pretty serious make-out session in her office. She had run back to report to Will, who had sighed.

“You’re going to be unbearable now,” he groaned. She had ignored him, picking up the phone and dialing Rachel.

“What? What happened? Seriously?” Rachel shouts happily.

“Total success,” Mac reports, and she grins, telling Rachel what she knew and promising to call back if anything else happened.

“You’re pretty pleased with yourself, aren’t you?” Will asks, and Mac drops herself into his lap.

“Oh, absolutely,” she agrees, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.

“At some point you should go in there and make them get back to work,” Will says dryly. “You’re going to need your office back, because I need my office back.”

“Yes,” Mac muses. “But not yet, right now.” And when she kisses him again, he can’t complain. They’ll worry about being professional later.


End file.
